Sheila Herring’s work is visceral and impassioned, combining a kind of abstract expressionism with subtle and robust functional shapes.
Exploring expressive techniques of working with the clay is a vital aspect of Sheila’s pot making. She seeks out and employs processes that have elements of the unpredictable, irregular and enlivened about them. The surface decoration emphasizes the freedom of the clay work, often involving the movement of various thicknesses of slips over the clay, traces of the application processes revealed. Slips also build up defining lines, as can the glazes used.
Free pencil line drawings and gestural sgraffito marks are informed from Sheila’s spontaneous drawings. Sometimes there are suggestions of flowers, at others the repetition of freely drawn patterns. Her functional pots are made from black earthenware clay.